


A Bad Idea Says I Get Coffee with You

by TimmyJaybird



Series: 100 Themes Challenge [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: College AU, Humor, M/M, capeless au, genderfluid tim
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-06-05 18:48:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6716863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimmyJaybird/pseuds/TimmyJaybird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tim gets caught reading reading some smut by a classmate, and it serves as possibly the <i>weirdest</i> introduction to anyone Tim has experienced.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Bad Idea Says I Get Coffee with You

**Author's Note:**

> I've decided to do one of the 100 theme challenges floating around, because hey, why not! The first theme was “Introduction”, and I also paired it with the AU scenario “You just caught me reading hardcore smut fan fiction during class and you’re wondering how I can read this with a blank face.”
> 
> Tumblr voted for the ship, and JayTim knocked the other options outta the park.
> 
> If this AU goes over well and there's interest, I'll consider adding more to it as the challenge progresses!

Tim leaned his chin onto his hand, idly staring at his laptop as he scrolled slowly. His professor was drawling on about something, but he had given up listening a good  _ fifteen _ minutes ago. Could find better things to do with his time than listen to something he could learn from a book in half the time.

 

He heard a few students shuffling around him, figured the lecture was done- but before he could close his laptop, someone was leaning down from the row behind him, looking  _ right _ over his shoulder.

 

“What are you reading?” Tim jerked his head up, expression still utterly  _ blank _ , as the guy- he had a name, Tim  _ swore _ he knew this guy’s name- stared right at his screen for a moment-

 

Before his grey eyes went wide.

 

“Holy fuck,” he said, “were you reading this shit the  _ whole time _ ?” He turned, stared at Tim, and Tim could see the stubble on his cheeks, like he’d rolled out of bed and run to class, hadn’t bothered to shave.

 

It was two in the afternoon. Such was life, Tim figured.

 

He shrugged a shoulder, a little color rising in his cheeks. He reached to close his laptop, but the guy hauled himself up over the table behind Tim, launching down into the empty seat next to him and leaning  _ right _ into his space.

 

He might  _ look _ like he just woke up, but he  _ smelled _ amazing.

 

“Do you mind?” Tim asked, reaching up and tucking some of his hair behind his ear. It was all over the place today, and he wondered if he had a hair tie in his bag somewhere, if he was  _ lucky _ enough for that.

 

“Nope,” the guy said, still reading. “ _ Shit _ , is this Deadpool and  _ Spiderman _ ?” Tim felt more color rising in his cheeks, as the guy’s mouth fell open a bit. “Can people even  _ bend _ like that?”

 

Tim reached forward, slammed his laptop shut and hoisted his bag up onto the table. The guy leaned his elbow on the table, resting his chin in his hand as Tim packed it away.

 

“You always read hardcore  _ porn _ in public kiddo?”

 

Tim did  _ not _ have to sit around for this. He stood up, tossing his bag over one shoulder and walking away from the guy, heading for the stairs. He was halfway up them when he heard him running up behind him, catching up.

 

“C’mon, just a question.”

 

“Buzz off,” Tim said, waving his hand as he hit the top, exiting the lecture hall. The building was swarming with students heading to their next class. He reached the doors, stepped outside- but the guy was still following.

 

“Really, I mean it.” He turned, walking  _ backwards _ so he could face Tim. The vneck of his shirt was a little  _ too _ deep, gave Tim a glimpse of tanned skin that made him slow his steps for a second. “You were  _ expressionless _ . How the fuck do you manage that?”

 

“Practice,” Tim admitted, and regretted it, the moment he did. The guy grinned.

 

“Yeah? Well, it’s impressive.” He looked around the crowds, before he paused and Tim stopped walking as well. “Better run, I’m already late I think. Name’s Jason kid.” He gave Tim a wink, before he headed off, shoving his hands into the pockets of his skinny jeans.

 

Tim watched him go, wondering what the hell had just happened.

 

*

 

“And then he just says he’s late, gives me his name, and  _ leaves _ .”

 

Tim flopped back on the bed, heard the bag of chips rustling from the floor, where Bart was sitting. Tim had crashed into his room shortly after his class- which wasn’t all that uncommon. Tim didn’t live on campus and he took to using Bart’s room as his own, most days.

 

“What were you reading?” Bart asked, wiping his hands on his jeans and the picking up his Xbox controller again.

 

“Does it  _ matter _ ?”

 

“Duh, ‘course it does.”

 

Tim sighed. “Spideypool. Wade had Peter up against the wall and Pete was holding himself up with some webs-”

 

“Oh  _ that _ one. That’s a good one!” Bart grinned, moving his whole body as he moved his character, unable to sit still. “Does he want some recs? ‘Cause like, we’ve got him  _ covered _ and all.”

 

“Bart!”

 

“ _ What _ ?” Bart paused, looked back at Tim. “What’s the big deal? Some dude caught you reading gay porn. Okay. Have you ever  _ pretended _ to be straight? ...Or cis for that matter.” Bart waved his hand before Tim could respond. “Next time wear a cute dress, bat your eyelashes, and hope he asks you out to lunch after.”

 

“ _ Bart! _ ”

 

“You need to get laid buddy,” Bart said, unpausing his game and looking back at the screen. “Anyway, did you check the Spideypool tag on AO3? ‘Cause I wanna know if I missed anything new.”

 

*

 

Two days later, and Tim was back in the same class, laptop closed this time. He drummed his pen on his notebook, had doodled all over the margins already. There were more drawings than notes on the page.

 

He sighed, leaned his cheek heavier onto his hand. Bart had to be  _ wrong _ . He had to be. Tim didn’t need to get  _ laid _ . He was… absolutely fine, as he was.

 

Okay, so it’d been like, two years since he broke up with Stephanie, and there were those couple friendly  _ we’re a little drunk and we’re making out _ moments with Bart, but Bart had a  _ boyfriend _ and they stayed right at that point.

 

Besides, that guy was probably an  _ ass _ , and Tim hadn’t even seen him-

 

Not that he was looking.

 

_ He was _ .

 

Tim sighed, as the professor concluded, and dropped his head down onto his notebook. He should be worrying about the paper he needed to work on for this class, the amount of projects piling up for his business classes.  _ Practical _ problems-

 

“Well, hey again stranger.” Tim lifted his head, and there was the guy from the other day, sitting on the table now, smiling at him. And… okay, he had a nice smile. A  _ really _ nice smile. “No porn this time?”

 

“Funny,” Tim said, adding, “Jason, right?” Like he had forgotten. _ He hadn’t _ .

 

“Yeah. What’s the name shortstuff?”

 

Tim frowned, leaning back and folding his arms. “Tim,” he said, and the guy smiled again. Tim noticed there were a couple earrings in his ears, that it looked like he forgot to shave again- was trying to gauge what  _ year _ he was.

 

“Well, Timbo, I hope your taste in comic smut is better than your drawing.” He glanced down at Tim’s notebook- and for the second time, Tim was huffing, grabbing his notebook and standing up, shoving it into his bag. He could feel Jason watching him, and when he turned, noticed the smile had fallen away, lips a neutral line.

 

“You lose a bet?” He nodded towards Tim’s floral tshirt dress, and Tim folded his arms defensively.

 

“No. I  _ like _ dresses. Problem?”

 

Jason quirked up a brow. “Definitely not.” His eyes lingered a moment too long, and Tim fought down a blush, turning and walking off. As expected, though, Jason was following him, up the steps and out into the warm, spring morning. “Looks good on you,” Jason added, following Tim away from the building.

 

Tim tried not to blush,  _ he really did _ . “Thanks.” He reached up, began pulling his hair back, working the hair tie off his wrist. “Don’t you have a class?”

 

“Nah, cancelled. Professor is hung over.”

 

“How do you know that?”

 

“My buddy was out drinking with her last night.” Tim paused, stared at him, and Jason only grinned. “Grad school life, kid.”

 

And Tim  _ balked _ . This guy was in  _ grad school _ ? He looked… too un-put-together.

 

“I know that look,” Jason said, “I know, what’s a guy like me doing in a school like this, when I could be off modeling underwear or something for the big magazines.”

 

Tim choked. “Careful before your head bursts,” he said, and Jason chuckled.

 

“Sounds like a  _ good _ problem to have.”

 

That time, Tim  _ definitely _ blushed.

 

“Listen, I’m starving. Wanna hit the campus cafe with me? I look too moody sitting there with my coffee alone.” Tim opened his mouth to speak, but Jason was grabbing his wrist, shockingly gently. “C’mon, I’ll buy you coffee, and you can tell me all about that porn you were reading the other day.”

 

Oh, this had to be a  _ bad _ idea.

 

*

 

“Fanciest fuckin’ coffee I’ve ever bought,” Jason said, as they sat down at one of the tiny, free tables. He passed the cup to Tim, who took a sip and sighed over the sweet caffeine, not caring that it burned his tongue. “Jesus, immune to heat?”

 

“Coffee addict,” Tim admitted with a shrug. “This is only my second for the day.”

 

“There’s  _ three _ shots of espresso in that latte, how the hell can you already have had some?” Tim shrugged a shoulder, as Jason dropped down into his chair, shrugging his leather jacket off. He jumped with the inner pocket, pulling out a  _ beyond _ well worn, thin paperback, and dropping it on the table next to his own coffee.

 

“I don’t sleep much.”

 

“Yeah? Up all late reading gay porn?” Tim narrowed his eyes, and Jason laughed. “Sorry, I’m just playin’ sweetheart.” Jason picked up his own cup, taking a sip. “I don’t blame you. If I give you my number will you send me the link?”

 

“Are you just trying to get my number?” Jason shrugged a shoulder, and Tim… clutched his cup a little tighter. This guy wasn’t  _ actually _ hitting on him, right? No way- “What’s that?” Tim nodded towards the book, needing to change the subject. Jason picked it up, opening to one of many dog-eared pages.

 

“King Lear,” he said, and Tim glanced at the cover, couldn’t  _ read _ it. “It’s in German.”

 

“You read German?”

 

“I read a lot of things,” Jason said, glancing over the book at Tim. “I grew up with Spanish. German I learned in high school, Russian over the summer between high school and college… and I guess a year here. Second year of it was a joke.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Working on Arabic, and Portuguese. But man, Portuguese is killin’ me.”

 

“Holy fuck,” Tim said, gawking. “That’s… a lot. What was your bachelor's in?”

 

“Literature and German,” Jason said, “double major.” He grinned, leaning a little more over the table. “What? Impressed Timbo?” Tim nodded, and the sheer honesty seemed to knock the wind right out of Jason’s snark. “I worked hard,” he said with a shrug.

 

“So, you like Shakespeare?”

 

“I  _ love _ him,” Jason said, “You have no idea. I mean, books in general. But, I dunno, I just like his work. It’s easy to find in other languages, too.”

 

Tim nodded, took a sip of his latte. “So, is that for fun?”

 

“Not this time. There’s a number of underclass students studying German who want to put on a play for their  _ final _ . I get the joy of supervising, as an independent study sort of deal. But hey, it’s credits, and I’ve read this more times than I can count.”

 

“Wait,  _ wait _ . You’re directing a German telling of King Lear?” Jason nodded, and Tim just… stared. “You just don’t  _ look _ the type at all.”

 

Jason snorted, setting the book down and picking up his own coffee. “Looks can be deceiving, darlin’.” He took a long sip, and Tim, for a moment, felt rather  _ bad _ that he could be so shocked. That maybe he had jumped to a few conclusions he shouldn’t have.

 

Tim set his latte down, reaching down for his bag. He pulled his phone out, watched as Jason took another long sip of coffee. “You still want that fic rec?” Jason paused, cup still pressed to his lips. “If you give me your number, I can send it your way.”

 

The smile that appeared behind that cup, Tim could admit- it was rather charming.

 


End file.
